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Naked in the Sky

Naked in the Sky is a rooftop bar and restaurant above the ever-popular pinxtos bar Naked for Satan. Despite not being that high up the view of the city is impressive. There are a number of outdoor tables as well as a sectioned-off indoor restaurant area.

We arrived at 6pm on a Tuesday and were able to get a restaurant seat immediately, however all the outside seats were taken. The remaining tables filled up quickly and before long there was a waiting list.

The menu was arranged with smaller dishes towards the top and larger ones towards the bottom, however they were not separated into different sections.

Cheese and walnut croquettes ($12)

The croquettes immediately caught my eye: fried cheese!

Cheesy, nutty, amazing; offset by sweet quince aioli. Enough said.

House made chorizo with tomato relish ($15)

The sausages were firm, plump and vibrant paprika-red, with the requisite fat dotted throughout. They were good enough on their own, I didn’t think they needed the relish.

Mushroom parfait ($16)

Soft, creamy parfait sang with strong notes of porcini. The sweet onion jam had a well-rounded caramelised flavour and the smoky almonds were an interesting twist. It was an excellent dish: when the bread ran out I just ate it straight with a fork. The radish and lettuce pieces felt a little tokenistic, however, and were mostly left untouched.

Braised wagyu intercostal ($28)

I’ll be honest, prior to this I had no idea what the word ‘intercostal’ meant (some wordsmith I am!). A Google search revealed a lot of anatomical diagrams, and I was soon informed that the intercostal muscles are those that sit between the ribs. So essentially, beef ribs without the bone. They were as expected: strong in flavour with a tenderness that could only be the result of lots of fat and slow cooking. The potatoes were nice but not quite sufficient to soak up the juices and provide balance to the rich meat, so I was glad we had ordered a grainy salad to fill that purpose.

The goat’s cheese ice cream was very sharp, borderline offensive, in flavour. Curious as to what it would taste like I started with a spoon of the ice cream on its own, which was a bit of a mistake. It worked well in the context of the whole dessert but it definitely wasn’t suitable as a standalone ice cream.

The lemon curd was at the tangy end of the scale, and Bob loved it. (For those who aren’t regular readers, Bob’s ideal dessert is half a lemon with some sugar sprinkled on top). Personally, I was glad to have the super-sweet meringues on hand to pull it back into line.

I was hoping to get more of a taste of the olive oil cake, but it ended up being more a vehicle for the lemon-and-goat’s-cheese show than anything else.

Overall not a bad dessert but I’m not sure I loved it.

The verdict

In a sentence: top quality food with a view, at a very nice price. $50 per head for this sort of dining and this sort of scenery is an absolute steal. Not a bad option if you can’t quite afford the Vue De Monde. Just make sure you get there early.